Railway mail-exchange



H. E. SMITH.

RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE. 'APPucAHoN- FILED OCT. 21. I918.

1,370,7 1.0, Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. SMITH, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO SPOKANE MAILEQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF SPOKANE,

wasnrneron.

RAILWAY MAIL-EXCHANGE.

Application filed October 21, 1918.

To all icizomc't may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of lVashington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Mail-Exehange, of which the following is a speci fication.

The present invention relates to improvements in railway mail exchange,and particularly to the rotatable standard carried upon the railway carupon which is supported the mail receiving device and the mail deliverydevice, the invention involving especially means for rotating thestandard;

-. the car and almost parallel therewith in order to clear the door way,and of course the apparatus may with facility be turned to position toreceive or deliver mail, and together with these features the devicepossesses simple but effective means for absorbing the shock of impactwhen receiving mail.

Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the door portion of the usualmail car, with the exchange apparatus turned in front of the open doorto give access to the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, sectional View, transverse of the car, showingthe clutch for locking the standard and its release means, together withthe lever mechanism for turning the shaft and apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a plan detail view of the gearing showing-also in dotted linesthe position of the exchange device when turned back away from the door.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the drawingsthe standard mail car C has revolubly supported at one side of itsdoorway the vertical standard or iron bar 1, revoluble in the bearingbrackets 2 and 3 attached to the car side and at the upper end thisstandard has a crank arm i to which the spring 5 is connected, the otherend of the spring being attached to the car C. V

The standard has a bearing collar 6 to Specificationbf Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921. Serial No. 259,052.

support it on the bearing bracket 3, and the arms A and A which aresupported from the standard are the receiving arms, while the arm B,(also supported on the standard) co-acts with the upper receiving arm Ato suspend the mail pouches to he delivered.

The essence of the invention resides in the mechanism at the lower endof the standard. and particularly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings.Here it will be observed that the standard has secured there to thesegmental rack gear 8 with its sleeve 8 fixed on the standard above thebottom collar 9, and this segmental gear engages with a pinion 10 on theactuating shaft 11 that passes up through the bottom or floor of thecar, through bearings 12, secured on the floor, an idler or intermediategear 13 being interposed between the rack and pinion, and supported inthe bracket 14 beneath the car floor so that the standard will turn inthe same direction as the actuating shaft 11. By means of the pivotedhandle 15 at the upper end of the actuating shaft 11 the standard may berevolved with facility, the handle being located at a convenient position within the door way, or close thereto, and the handle, when not inuse is turned down on its pivot 16 to be out of the way. By means of thehandlethe standard and its exchange devices or arms may be turnedapproximately through an arc of 180 degrees, either across the door wayas in Fig. 1 at one extreme, or, as in Fig. 3 (dotted lines) at theother extreme alongside the car wall, in order to avoid obstructions.

For locking the standard and its arms in desired position, a lockingclutch is provided with the sleeve 8 as one of the clutch members, theslidable sleeve or collar 17 being the other member. The collar has anengaging lug or tooth 18 and the sleeve has a notch or recess 19 toreceive the tooth. Preferably a series of notches or recesses areprovided, and the slide collar which is keyed on the standard may belifted out of engage ment with the sleeve through the instrumen-- talityof the clutch lever 20 pivoted in a bracket at 21, and the lever isoperated by the foot pedal 22 having its head 23 above the car floor andin convenient position to be pressed by the foot of the railway mail manto unlock the clutch.

The normal position of the apparatus is indicated in Fig. 1 with theexchange appai the arms to the doorway.

ratus in front of the door way and held there by the spring 5. Theexchange apparatus is swung to position with the arms at right angles tothe side of the car, by means of the lever handle 15, and the impact oireceiving mail is absorbed by the spring 5 which, after receiving theshock, returns When the arms are swung around away from the doorway, andparallel with the side oi the car, the crank arm l is held off center,with the spring lying between the car side and the center of thevertical axis of the standard so that the standard is thus held by thespring with the arms parallel with the side of the ca. The rack, gear,and pinion, beneath the car absorb the major portion of the shock whenthe clutch is closed, but when the clutch is opened, with the keyedcollar 1'? lifted from the loose sleeve 8 the standard may be turned,free "from the remainder of the parts, as for instance when the exchange device is to be turned with its arms parallel with the side ofthe car, or to avoid accident as for instance if the extended arms arelikely to strike an obstruction, the operator may step on the head 23and release the standard from the gears and permit it to swing freelyagainst the tension of the spring 5, which returns the apparatus tonormal position in Fig. 1.

Claims: 7

1. The combination with an integral revoluble standard and mail exchangedevices thereon, of operating means for the standard, locking means onthe standard comprising a loose member connectedwith the operatingmeans, and an axially movable member rotatable with the standard, andmeans for releasing the movable member.

2. The combination with a revoluble standard of an operating shaft andgearing between the shaft and standard including a loose sleeve on thestandard forming part 01": aclutch, a second clutch member keye on thestandard adapted to engage the loose sleeve, and means "for releasingthe engaged members.

3. The combination in a railway mail exchange apparatus including thestandard revolubly mounted on the car and a spring for holding thestandard'in normal position, a slidable clutchmember keyed on thestandard and means for moving the member, a segmental rack having aloose sleeve on the standard to be engaged by the sliding clutchmembenan operating shaft, and gearing between said shaft and thesegmental rack as described.

4. The combination with a revoluble standard, of an operating shaft andgearing between the shaft and standard including a loose sleeve on thestandard forming part of a clutch, a second clutch member keyed on thestandard and adapted to engage the loose sleeve, a lever pivoted to theloose sleeve, and a depressible pedal for said lever for releasing theclutch members.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

HERBERT E. SMITH

